The Department of War escalated its misconduct review of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) after his attorney threatened legal action.
The Pentagon said it escalated the “preliminary review” into “serious allegations of misconduct” against the former naval captain over a video he made alongside other former Democratic military and security veterans.
“The Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War’s Office of the General Counsel, is escalating the preliminary review of Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.), to an official Command Investigation. Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct. Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings,” a War Department official said.
Kelly was one of six Democratic lawmakers to feature in a video warning service members against following illegal orders, with the remarks viewed by the Trump administration as a wink-and-nod call for insubordination. The War Department first announced a “thorough review” of the allegations late last month, which escalated on Monday. War Secretary Pete Hegseth requested that the Navy review Kelly’s “potentially unlawful comments” and report back to him by Dec. 10.
Kelly derided the escalation shortly after its announcement, saying it should “send a shiver down the spine of every patriotic American that the president and secretary of defense would abuse their power to come after me or anyone this way.”
“It wasn’t enough for Donald Trump to say I should be hanged. It wasn’t enough for Pete Hegseth to threaten me with a court-martial. Now they are threatening everything I fought and served for across twenty-five years in the U.S. Navy — all because I repeated something every service member is taught,” he continued, going on to bash Hegseth’s integrity.
Kelly’s attorney sent a letter to Navy Secretary John Phelan, threatening legal action if the investigation were to proceed further.
DEADLINE DAY ARRIVES FOR NAVY REVIEW OF MARK KELLY FOR ‘ILLEGAL ORDERS’ VIDEO
“To be clear: there is no legitimate basis for any type of proceeding against Senator Kelly, and any such effort would be unconstitutional and an extraordinary abuse of power,” he wrote. “If the Executive Branch were to move forward in any forum—criminal, disciplinary, or administrative—we will take all appropriate legal action on Senator Kelly’s behalf to halt the Administration’s unprecedented and dangerous overreach.”
Kelly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chris Deluzio (D-PA), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) have been labeled the “Seditious Six” by the Trump administration after their controversial video was released. They particularly earned the ire of President Donald Trump, who accused them of treason and argued they should be punished as such.
